The Pact
by Hraelen
Summary: The young captain Aylus of Hyrule's finest legions enters a secret aliance with a drifter named Ostros to destroy Link. Will the Triforce of Courage prevail?


The young captain Aylus of Hyrule threw off the covers of his bed and stood in his night garb by the stained glass windows of his sleeping chambers. Staring up into them, he was cursed with the same illustration that he had seen every morning since he was but a child. The young man garbed in green wielding the Blade of Evil's Bane standing on the greatest hill and raising the blade in victory. Aylus could still hear the masses cheering; still feel the rumble of thousands shouting one name. Oh, that name, how he hated it.

Aylus sat down on the edge of his bed and tugged at his shining brown hair, a countenance of rage coming over his face. "Link…" he muttered to himself in the height of his frenzy, "I _hate _you, Link." Then, in a childish maneuver, he drew a fist and punched his hand through the stained-glass window. The beautiful portrait shattered on impact and the shining glass fell out of the window and down three stories where it shattered further on the cement ground. He withdrew his hand, now bleeding and torn, from the place where the window once was. He suddenly felt the pain come on and rushed to the pot of water he kept in the washroom.

He dunked his hand in the water and sighed with relief. He held his hand under the water for a few more moments and then dried it of and bandaged it. As for the broken window, for then he pulled a curtain over it. However, the rage returned only minutes later, as it did every morning, but there was now a touch of fear in him. He had never acted this way before, never lashed out against anything in his rage. Something was wrong. His anger was building.

_It's all Link's fault._

He bandaged his hand and waited in his room for the bleeding to stop. He had to cover up his painful mistake—there was no good to come if anyone learned that he had punched out a window. When the bleeding stopped, he removed the bandages and looked over his right hand. The slash marks were still prominent and noticeable, but he could hide them. He emptied out the bloody water jug and proceeded to get dressed for breakfast in the Great Hall. He threw on his shirt and pants and his red robe. He combed his hair back with his stone brush, littered with diamonds from the halls of the Zora king, and ran down to breakfast.

When he entered the dining chambers, he stealthily threw the right side of his robe over his right hand. He was greeted by his family members and assorted monarchs of the Royal Family as he entered the Great Hall.

"Good morning, Captain," said the mighty King of Hyrule, continuing to stare into his eggs as he devoured them. With this, the others began to chime in.

"Morning, boy," greeted Allus, the general of Hyrule's armies.

"Nice day, eh, son?" inquired Lucius, the head of the Palace Guard.

"The pork is good today, Aylus," prompted Angus, the head chef.

And finally, the stunning Princess Zelda looked up at him, grinned, and said, "Good morning, Captain. Sleep well?"

"Yes indeed, my lady," he responded thoughtfully.

For a moment, it seemed his constant rage was fading…

He sat down, still concealing still his scarred right hand, and immediately, two servants waltzed over to his seat on the left side of the grand table and filled his place with pork, eggs, and wine. As the two servants pranced back off into the kitchen, he became confused and called to them.

"Excuse me, servers?" he shouted.

They danced back to his spot, one on each side of him and said in unison, "Yes, sire."

"The food looks wonderful, but why wine? Is it not only two hours past sunrise?"

The one servant said, "Strict orders from the king, sire."

"_We _will be having water," the other added, and they both started back yet again toward the kitchen. However, the captain was a persistent one and this was not the explanation he was looking for.

"My lordship," he addressed the king, "if I may?"

"You may," answered the king, still focused on his eggs and pork.

"What is the occasion that wine should be served for breakfast, my king?" he pondered, hoping this time for an answer. He felt a quick, sharp pain in his hand and the anger began to rush through his blood again.

"Zelda, dearest?" the king responded.

"Yes, father," she said rather obediently. "Well, Captain, just this morning we received word from scouts on the outskirts of the countryside that a lone rider was seen coming across the banks of Lake Hylia."

The rage began to build in Aylus. "A thief, no doubt—one of their scouts I would assume. He was coming to look over the country border to take a look out."

He kept his head down as he said this as the king had, but now even the king had looked up from his meal. After a moment of silence, Aylus looked up too.

"That's not much reason for wine at breakfast."

"You haven't let me finish my statement," said Zelda, now slightly irritated.

"What—you have a better theory?" Aylus asked, sure of himself.

"Quit being so damn stuck up and listen to the woman, would you?" commanded Lucius.

Aylus made a face of disinterest and stirred his eggs with his fork. Zelda sighed and continued, no longer looking at the young captain.

She said, "The two scouts who spotted the rider described him as being clad in a 'dirty green garb' and having 'only a sword and shield on his back.'"

The others smiled and looked around at each other, and looked back at Aylus for his reaction. To their dismay, however, he only continued to stir his eggs, disinterested. He soon felt the stares of everyone at the table on him and the frenzy of rage building in his temples. He looked back up at them all in confusion and disgust.

"So what, the thief was dirty? He had weapons? This all means nothing! What are you all so damn happy about?" He could feel his own pulse in his temples and his anger welling up in the back of his head. He lashed out again, this time with words.

"I said so what! Why in the name of the gods should there be wine on the breakfast table for a damned thief! Will one of you fools please answer my damn question?"

There was a brief silence, and then Zelda spoke yet again.

"_Because, _you blind fool, the rider was _Link!_" she screamed at him. She calmed down significantly once she had expelled her anger toward Aylus.

However, at the mention of the name of his mortal enemy—and oh, how loud she had said it!—the captain fell deathly silent and deathly pale. He looked down at his eggs again, trying to conceal his rage that shrieked inside him like a pack of banshees, clawing at his insides, trying to escape and destroy the one who spoke the name. He remained calm on the outside though.

Zelda spoke yet again. "To answer your question, my captain, we have set the table with wine in celebration of the return of Link, the Hero of Time!"

Aylus cringed and looked back up at Zelda, restraining himself from tearing her arms off.

"The one who freed Hyrule from the dark clutches of the King of Evil," continued the princess, "and restored our devastated land to its rightful designs. The one who saved all the races of this world from extinction, the one man who freed out world has come back."

It was too much for Aylus. One more word and he would—

"Link has returned to perhaps save us yet again from impending evil and—"

"Shut your mouth, you damn imbecile!"

The crowd at the table gasped as he spoke these words unto the princess and rose forcefully from his seat.

"Know you all nothing? That treasonous man is no hero! He is a menace!" he shouted across the table.

"And what in Hyrule makes you say that?" interjected the king, disgusted.

"Link didn't do _anything! _Link is absolutely false! Our armies warred for years before he appeared—all he had to do was finish the job! He's nothing but a selfish, false, attention-stealing, credit-taking, _worm!_ _I hate him!_"

The others were no longer angry, but shocked and appalled. This man was clearly not stable. He was spitting as he spoke and his face was the red of dragon scales. Finally he looked up at the crowd, pounded on the table, and threw his head back.

"And that false, lying beast… _HE TOOK HER FROM ME!"_

And with that, he picked his wine glass up in his scarred hand and crushed it with his fingers. He let the wine drip into his open wounds and threw down the shards. Zelda screamed and the others looked on in terror.

"Nayru's love, what happened to his hand!" she cried.

He realized that they had seen his hand, which had now begun to bleed again, and he threw down his chair. He ambled out of the room, his cloak flying behind him. The king shouted for the guards to stop him. When they did, he demanded they move and degradingly slapped one of them with his bloody hand. The guard toppled over backwards, a bloody mark on his face, and Aylus used this chance to push between them and up the stairs. As he climbed to the tower where his room was, he heard the king mutter to the others, "What has gotten in to that boy?"

_I will kill Link,_ he thought, _if he ever dares come back to this land, I will find him and kill him._

He threw himself into his room, and taking out a small silver key, slammed the door and locked it behind him. He whirled around and put his hand into the new pot of water that had been brought for him. He once again removed it and bandaged it up, sat down on his bed. It was cold in his room though, and he remembered the window was punched out. He looked where he had put the curtain over it and saw that it was open, the morning light streaming through it.

He decided it had been the wind and pulled the curtain back to cover the whole. As he spun around to wash his face, his heart jolted at the sight of a man. A man, slightly shorter than he, whose body he could not make out because he wore a black full body cloak, stood before him.

"How did you get in here?" he said wavering, reaching for his pocket dagger. "I demand to know!"

The figure spoke with am icy whisper. The sound of his voice sent a chill up Aylus' spine.

"Calm…" the figure said. "Calm, boy."

"I am not in the correct mood for visitors right now, so I demand that you leave," Aylus responded. He yet again felt the anger pounding through his head.

"Silence," the figure breathed. "I heard you down below. Down in the hall… I heard you shouting."

"So what is it to you?" Aylus asked.

"Let me put it this way, child… I share enemies with you," he responded.

"You mean to say…" started Aylus.

"Yes, dear boy, the one who took your loved one away from you… _Link_."

Again, at the mention of the name, Aylus winced and felt the anger screaming through his veins, bones, and brain.

"So then why are you here?" Aylus demanded.

"Oh, I was just dropping by and over heard your… conversation," the figure said.

"I'm not in the mood, stranger," Aylus retorted. "Tell me why you really are here."

The figure hesitated, looked around the room, and then said, "I have come to make an offer to you, Captain Aylus."

"What sort of offer do you speak of, stranger?" Aylus asked.

"Clearly…" began the cloaked figure, "You and I share a deep hatred of this returning champion."

"That is clear," interrupted Aylus.

"It is also clear that you and I would both do very much to see the downfall of this 'hero,'" continued the figure.

"Go on," Aylus prompted.

"At my disposal, young captain, is the information… the intelligence, if you will, to bring this enemy of ours down." Aylus took deeper interest now in this unknown man's offer, and at the same time felt the banshees clawing to break free yet again. The figure continued. "And you, young captain, have the control of three legions."

"What are you prodding at?" probed Aylus, now squirming on the inside from these proposals.

"Join me, Aylus. Together, we will see to the downfall and death of the one who calls himself Link. The only thing you must do is command your legions."

The offer was made and for a moment, Aylus thought it over. But before long, the stirring rage that had welled deep within him for years after the Hero of Time's victory finally took hold of him.

"I will join you," he said.

"Good," the cloaked man returned. "Very good."

"May I know your name?" Aylus inquired nervously.

"I am Ostros," he answered.

"Well, Ostros," the captain began, "let us no longer be tormented by our hatred of this one, weak, foolish man. Let our brotherhood bring unto him his ultimate demise."

"Aye," agreed Ostros.

The fires of torment whirled now through the soul of the captain, and now he was no longer in total control of his actions. He felt the rage and frenzy in him build and became delighted all of a sudden. His words came out bold and fiery.

"We shall _kill_ this Hero of Time."


End file.
